Another Nigerian Nurse Tests Positive For Ebola As 177 Placed On Surveillance

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines Monday, August 11th, 2014

Another Nigerian nurse has tested positive to the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu says on Monday.

He says the husband of the married nurse has been placed on surveillance, disclosing that 177 primary and secondary contacts had been placed on surveillance to see if they would show traces of Ebola.

At a news conference on Monday, Chukwu said with the new Ebola case, the number of Nigerians infected with Ebola has risen to 10.

“Unfortunately, out of the initial 70 under both surveillance and isolation, 9 of them developed symptoms of Ebola and were confirmed to have EVD by the same laboratory at LUTH; tragically, one of them, a nurse, passed away on Wednesday the 6th of August, 2014.

“It has been 22 days since EVD first landed in Nigeria. As at today, 177 primary and secondary contacts of the index case have been placed under surveillance or isolation. Nine developed EVD, bringing the total number of cases in Nigeria to 10. Of these 10, two have died (the Liberian American and the Nigerian nurse) while eight are alive and currently on treatment,” he said.

He stated that within the initial 48 hours of the death of the first Nigerian of EVD, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan approved the National Ebola Virus Disease Emergency Containment Plan with immediate cash backing of N1.9 billion to further complement the containment efforts already in place.

“The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Health and its agencies, works very closely with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local authorities and other international partners to further deepen and broaden these containment efforts.

“We shall single out the WHO and the CDC for special commendation for their understanding and continuous support in this challenging moment; particularly for the partnership and most importantly for the capacity building of our Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)

“Nigeria wishes to emphasize that, it essentially remained an Ebola Virus free country until this incidence of importation and unfortunate contamination. We will continue to work with all stakeholders, local and international partners to maximize on this and intensify efforts to contain and treat the existing cases,” he said.

He explained that at the sub-regional level, the EVD was discussed as a substantive agenda during the Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Government on the 9th of July 2014 in Accra Ghana.

“Nigeria played, as usual, its leading, pioneering and compassionate role during the Summit with the first and only donation of 3.5 million USD humanitarian and capacity building aid to the three affected countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, the West African Health Organization (WAHO), and the ECOWAS Ebola Fund.

“The Liberian Government has expressed its deepest sympathies and regrets that Mr. Sawyer had even embarked on this tragic journey, which has brought needless sufferings, death and has placed an unnecessary stress on our health system. In the same spirit, we share in solidarity, the grief of the governments and people of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone as we confront this challenge together,” he stated.